A navigation system frequently relies on an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a global positioning system (GPS) that interface with a navigation computer to provide navigation control and/or guidance of a craft such as an airplane, missile or submarine. In operation, the navigation system may assume control of the GPS tracking loops by use of a Kalman filter, which is commonly referred to as Deep Integration. Because of the precise nature of how the tracking loops are driven, the navigation system as described above requires precise alignment of the clock signals incorporated within the global positioning system, the inertial measurement unit, and the navigation computer. Furthermore, because of varying computational performance in the navigation computer, a phase adjustment mechanism is desirable in order to precisely adjust the time alignment of the data from the inertial measurement unit, the data from the global positioning system, and the tracking loop commands.
The present invention is directed to an arrangement that provides clock synchronization for a navigation system. Additionally or alternatively, the present invention may also be arranged to adjust the time alignment of the data from the inertial measurement unit, the data from the global positioning system, and the tracking loop commands of the navigation system.